Borderline
by Arokhsteel
Summary: After the death of a great man, and the capture of the Siren, all is quiet in Sanctuary. Then Handsome Jack opens mouth to taunt them, triggering one Vault HUnter to give him a few choice words
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I own only my OC**

The whole room was quite. Nobody dare spoke as they tried to make sense of what had occurred. A few fought against it, railed against the possibility that it might be true. But it was futile. There could be no denying the cold, hard, fact.

Roland was dead. And Jack had taken Lilith.

"Damn it…" Mordecai muttered, taking a quick swig of the bottle he held, attempting to drown his sadness and anger. Brick stood off to the side, a scowl etched onto his scared face. His hands clenched into tight fists. The Slab king stared forwards, glaring at the air as if he wished for it to spontaneously combust.

"We've got to do something!" The two looked to the Vault hunter, his visage set in distress. He was young, younger than most who took up the profession. His eyes bright emerald, fiery red hair covered by a blood stained rag. His torso covered by a red shirt, and jacket, the Crimson Raider Symbol emblazoned on the back. He shifted, adjusting the twin Maliwan Corrosive and Slag pistols were holstered to his leggings.

"I don't know kid." Mordecai muttered taking another swig of his drink. "I need to think of something."  
"What the hell is there to think about!" The teen asked, throwing his hands up in frustration. "We need to save Lilith!"

"We don't even know where he might take her." The sniper sighed, tossing the empty bottle to the side uncaringly. "I know you're frustrated Max but shouting won't help." Max sighed helplessly as he sat down, cradling his head in his hands.

"I know but…" the vault hunter began pausing to sigh, "I should have seen it. I was looking right at him when it happened." He stood up with a shout, the various screens across the room flickering and turning red for a split second, a show of his technopathic abilities. Mordecai shook his head, paying no mind to the short lapse in the teen's control of his power. "Don't put that on yourself kid." He stood resting his hands on the holotable. "Nothing you could've done, happened to fast. If you want to blame anybody blame Jack." The teen said nothing only looking on at the poster of Roland, his eyes unfocused. Suddenly a beep sounded, signaling the beginning of an ECHO call.

_"__I want all of you, every single one of you dirty bandits to think."_ The trio scowled at the sound of the hated voice, the voice of Handsome Jack. _"Roland, was the oh so wise leader of the Crimson Raiders, he took on any challenge that came for him, and I killed him."_ Max grit his teeth, the various screens around the room flickering. _"You're oh so strong and wise leader and I killed him. Without breaking a sweat."_ Jack said, his voice angry and mocking. _"I captured Lilith! The most powerful Siren on the planet! Again without ever breaking a sweat! What hope do you, or your precious vault hunters have of stopping me? What-"_ His rant was drowned out by Max's scream of rage, the electronics in the room blanking out before his face appeared upon ever screen.

"Hey Jackhole!" he shouted, his words reverberating all across the planet wide ECHOnet. "It's me. The child murdering psychopath." Silence reigned, nobody dared speak, all of the chatter from outside had ceased. "How does it feel?" The quiet persisted before the madman spoke one word, so softly whispered that it almost wasn't heard. _"What?"_

"How does it feel Jack?" Max asked again, "How does it feel when you lie boldfaced to the entirety of this planet to hide your cowardice? Well congratulations Jackie! You killed Roland. You killed a man whose weapon wasn't drawn, whose back was turned, whose shield and guard was down!" there was no response from the masked tyrant, but Max didn't care. He was on a roll. "How does it feel knowing you accomplished the only thing you are good at: killing those who had no chance of fighting back? How does it feel knowing Roland could have taken you with both hands tied? All you ever do is talk in your big Hyperion base while your loaders and engineers do all the work. While Wilhelm slaughtered countless innocents you sat on high." Max laughed, a rueful and broken laugh, but above all else? Angry.

_"__Shut up."_ Jack ordered, his anger flowing freely through the comms.

"Or what Jackie?" Max mocked, his visage smiling. "You going to shoot me in the back like the coward you are? It figures you'd need the world destroying Warrior to wipe out all of the 'bandits'. You're so pathetic that you couldn't do so otherwise!" Max laughed again. "To think I was actually scared when this all began. Handsome Jack was the bogie man, a monster that left nothing alive in its wake. But now? Now I see. What you are is just a weak, scared, pathetic parasite of a man who lets others do the fighting for him. Well I got a news flash for ya Jackie! Wilhelm is dead, I killed him. He died screaming in agony as corrosive rounds ate away at his flesh. You're sheriff girlfriend at Lynchwood? Dead. She didn't get the chance to scream before Zero put a bullet in her skull. All your loaders? Demolished by Maya and Axton. The bunker? Krieg and Salvador turned it into scrap metal. Your Engineers can't do much more but scream as Gaige and her Deathtrap tear them apart." The screens flickered, showing each of the Vault Hunters and their deeds. Zero standing tall, bloody sword drawn. Axton crouched, assault rifle and two turrets at the ready. Krieg and Salvador back to back, weapons drawn. Maya standing atop a mountain of broken loaders, hand extended and a small orb cradled just above it. Gaige smirking triumphantly as she sat atop Deathtrap amongst the fallen corpses of Hyperion Engineers. Max charging forward shotgun at the ready a small force of converted loaders at his back.

_"__Shut up."_ The tyrant ordered again, his voice louder.

"But I have one more question for you Jackie." Max continued, smirking "How does it feel knowing she chose us?" Max waited, the whole planet waited for Handsome Jack's reply but when no reply came the teen continued. "Does it crush you inside, knowing that your own daughter rejected you? Does it eat away at you knowing that she chose to die then remain in your 'care'. How does it feel knowing that she chose us! The bandits, the monsters, the blood thirsty savages over you! Her own flesh and blood?"

_"__Shut up."_

"It must really hurt right?"

_"__Shut up!"_

"I wonder if her mother would be proud of her. You think she would say she did the right thing?"  
_"SHUT UP!"_ His shout echoed through the comms, his rage at the boiling point. _"Everyone you have ever known, seen, talked to, passed by on the street. Everyone you know and care for will DIE!"_ Max laughed loudly, completely disregarding the man's threat.

"Oh that's the Jack I know and hate!" he mocked, "Tossing out threats like they were going out of style!" Max's smile fell replaced by a hard scowl. "Now let me issue a promise." He said, emphasizing the word promise.

"We are coming for you, us Vault hunters. You may have your Loaders, Engineers, Constructors. You may have killed Roland, and captured Lilith. You have the key and may even open the Vault, thus raising the Warrior." His hands tightened into fists, knuckles becoming white. "We will come for you. We will crush, rip, slash, demolish, and tear through all of that. And after we have destroyed your private army, after we have brought the Warrior low, then we will take you. And we will take everything you have built, everything you have aspired to, everything that you have ever loved and tear it down. Then once we have done that, once you have felt the anger and retribution of those you have wronged. Once all that is left of you is a bloody shivering pathetic mass. Then, and only then will you have my permission to die." Max paused, taking a moment to collect himself. "We are the Vault Hunters. We are Pandora. And we will break you." With that Max cut the comm. with a thought. Allowing the silence to engulf the room.

ΩΩΩ

Jack shook, with anger, grinding his teeth as he glared at the screen. The little brat didn't know who he was messing with. He would crush him; he would crush all the Vault hunters. They would know his wrath, his anger. He turned sharply from the console stalking off. Although the CEO would never admit it to anyone, even to himself, he felt a twinge of fear at the thought of combating all of those Hunters but he shook it off quickly enough.

"I'm the hero." He muttered to himself, "The hero never loses."

With that he continued on burying the fears as far down as he could and walked into the shadows.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I own only my OC**

Max coughed as he dove to the side, pressing his back against one the broken ruins of the vault entrance, panting as Axton tossed his dual turrets out, the two Dahl guns opening fire on the behemoth that was the Warrior. After fighting through an onslaught of Hyperion Loaders with Mordecai and Brick at their side, Max and his six comrades found themselves confronted by Handsome Jack as he forcibly used Lilith to charge the Vault key. He had used some kind of holographic technology to make multiple battle ready, if not squishy, Jack clones. Max scoffed at the idea, while it had been slightly, ever so slightly, satisfying it was still a cowards move. Something that described Jack to a T. The fight had gone just as he suspected, Jack spent the whole time hiding behind his clones and only fighting when they were all gone, and even then the combined fire power of seven Vault Hunters ate through his shield faster than a Skag through a corpse. In the end they defeated the tyrant quickly and decisively, and when they all stood over him, holding his bleeding side as he glared up at them the worst possible thing happened.

The key finished charging.

Faster than any could have followed he leapt forward, forcing the key into place. That led to their current predicament. They had been in a gun battle with the monstrosity for some time but it really was an ancient warrior that could destroy planets, and thus their weapons were doing minimal damage at best. Kreig was holding his bleeding side, spouting something or other about meat bicycles as Maya patched him up. Salvador was crouched behind cover, cursing as he slapped in his last remaining mags into the his assault rifles, Zero was off in cover some ways away, attempting to pick out the Warrior's weak points. Max could see Gaige as she tinkered furiously with her damaged Deathtrap, the robot sparking randomly.

'This won't work' The teen thought angrily, 'If we had more ammo maybe but as it is now well run out before we can kill this thing' He glanced at back at the purple field that separated him from Lilith and Jack, protecting them. He growled when he saw the tyrant's bloody smile, taunting him.

He knew they wouldn't last as it was; they had too little ammo and too little time to come up with a plan. Max grit his teeth, biting into his lip as he did so. He felt his anger bubble over, his fury reach the boiling point. He wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug smirk off his face. He wanted Jack dead. Suddenly, it happened. Amidst all the anger, all the fury, and all the hatred, Max felt something else deep inside him. He felt _power_. Power like nothing before. He gasped as the energies that fueled his technopathic powers expand, adapting, and growing until his whole body was alight with crimson power. He felt his skin burn as it increased, images familiar yet foreign appeared across his right side. Instead of soft waves, came vicious blades, smooth curves became hard angles. What would have been blue became a harsh red. Meanwhile the battle seemed to cease as all focused on the teen, even the Warrior stood enraptured.

Jack blinked as he took the sight in, panic setting into his body. 'It can't be' he thought, eyes wide. 'Their born, they don't awaken. Their all female. How can this be happening?!' Max roared as the energy finally stabilized, the glow subsiding. When all was clear Max stood tall, his right arm exposed, a myriad of tattooed blades tearing their way up his arm and to his face, coming to a point just under his eye. He glanced to the Warrior, emerald eyes focused. In an instant he was gone in a flash of red. A red phantom streaking across the battlefield and slamming into the beast's chest sending it sprawling. Lilith who had seen the spectacle blinked at the familiarity of the attack. Suddenly he appeared in the air, scowling down at the monster. With a wave of his hand a single orb appeared just above the Warrior, before it shot forward. Colliding with its chest and holding the beast down. It was then they all realized something. Jack had assumed the boy to be some kind of latent Siren. However he was nothing of the sort. Siren's only ever had one power. Where he had two, thus far. Where Lilith Phased through dimensions, entering and exiting as she pleased, Max tore though the dimensions, ripping the fabric of reality apart as he did. Where Maya held her opponents captive in a powerful singularity, Max turned it into a physical force that entrapped its targets indefinitely. Jack swallowed as he watched the boy raise a hand, finger pointed to his moonbase. Whereas Angel could control that which she was linked to, Max dominated it. He brought his hand down, the mortar firing off as he did.

Time seemed to slow for the Tyrant as he watched the high powered blast crawl to his Warrior. Unable to do anything but watch. The Warrior let out one final defiant roar as it attempted to escape the large singularity that had it pinned. The resistance however was short lived as not a second after the moon shot caved the monster's skull inward. The Ancient Eridain went limp, its struggle over and its life ended.

"No…" Jack whispered as Max landed with a light grunt. "No…." he repeated as the shield that had protected him fell. He pushed himself up, backing away from the vault hunters as they turned their attention to him.

"No, no, no… I can't die like this…" he stumbled backwards, "not when I'm so close…" He pushed himself up again, glaring at Max as the teen strode forward. "and not at the hands of a FILTHY BANDIT!" he looked at the broken corpse of the Warrior, eyes wide with disbelief. "I could've saved this planet! I could have actually restored ORDER!" HE pointed and accusing finger at the boy.

"I wasn't supposed to die at the hands of a CHILD-KILLING PSYCHOPATH!" he screamed, "You're a SAVAGE! You're a MANIAC! You are a bandit… AND I AM THE GODDAMN HERO!" he collapsed, shaking his head. "The Warrior was practically a GOD. How-HOW in the hell did you kill my Warrior? Where in the hell did you get that power?" he shook his head, not waiting for an answer.

"You idiots! The Warrior would have brought peace to this planet! No more dangerous creatures! No more bandits! Pandora – It could have been PARADISE!" He might have continued had Lilith not kicked him hard in the face, sending him sprawling.

"This is it guys. Either one of you kills Jack, or I'll do it for you." Max nodded to the woman, stepping forward. In one swift motion he thrust his hand forward, phasing it into the tyrant's chest. Jack screamed as the teen lifted him up. The eridium burning the man's insides.

"Suffer you son of a bitch." Max growled as he upped the power outage. "Suffer and know that you have lost totally and completely." Jack didn't respond he only screamed before his disintegrated. The only remnant of the mad man his mask as it clattered to the ground. Max lowered his hand inhaling once and exhaling out.

"Wow…." He whispered, turning back to the group, smirking as he did, "That was a million times more satisfying than I could have possibly imagined." A few chuckles from the group.

"What do we call you?/ A male Siren, unheard of./Quite anomalous." Max jumped, turning to Zero just as he had come out of cloak. The assassin managed to get the drop on every one, literally nobody was safe. It was nearly impossible to tell when he deployed his decoy.

"Yea big man." Axton snarked, giving the teen a light shove, "You going out there and kicking yourself some Warrior ass. What should we call you now? He-Siren? Sirno?" The commando trailed off, not noticing his comrades cringe with each new title proposed.

"Please stop." Max pleaded, "It hurts just listening to you."

Axton recoiled in mock hurt, a hand over his heart. "Well fine then." He scoffed, "What do you think then oh name master?"

Max sighed, smiling as he did. "Well…" he thought for a moment before answering. "Call me… The Sentinel."


End file.
